Saturday, May 17, 2014

Philip Roth Upddate

Author Philip Roth says goodbye to both writing and public life

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee

Woman threatens to shoot up South Carolina Burger King over stale cinnamon roll

13 Epic Animal Migrations

13 Epic Animal Migrations That Prove Just How Cool Mother Nature Is (PHOTOS)  

Link via mental-floss.

Martin Meyers, R. I. P.

Very sorry to hear this.  Another of the good guys gone.

Mystery Fanfare: Martin Meyers: R.I.P.

Babe Ruth's Lovelife

Babe Ruth's Lovelife 

Song of the Day

Kansas City-Wilbert Harrison-1959 - YouTube:

The Curious Case of the $2 Bill

The Curious Case of the $2 Bill 

Gators Just Wanna Have Fun

Alligator takes surprise dip in Bradenton couple's pool 

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Today's Vintage Ad

Hat tip to Art Scott.

I Miss the Old Days

Forgotten Hits: 50 Years Ago This Weekend

Book Giveaway Today Only!

Livia J. Washburn: Prairie Rose Publications: PRP New Release -- Mending Fences By Livia J Washb...: Livia will be giving away a digital copy of MENDING FENCES to one lucky commenter today at the Prairie Rose Publication blog! Be sure to leave your contact information in your comment--it may be your lucky day! 

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Bruno Fischer, The Girl Between, Gold Medal, 1960

Jim Mickle Talks About Directing ‘Cold in July’

Jim Mickle Talks About Directing ‘Cold in July’   

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

Woman accused of using sword to attack apartment complex residents 

The Most Groan-Inducing Baby Names of 2013

The Most Groan-Inducing Baby Names of 2013

9 Unsolved Mysteries of the Wild West

9 Unsolved Mysteries of the Wild West

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

. . .  and now it's the Fast food freakout 

Warning: annoying auto-start video.

5 literary hoaxes

5 literary hoaxes

Or You Might

10 Facts You Might Not Know About The ‘Frasier’ Series Finale

For Whom the Bell Tolls

1943 FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS TRAILER GARY COOPER - YouTube:

Friday, May 16, 2014

Gator Update (Gnawing Edition)

Tyler Shields snaps alligator gnawing on $100k crocodile Hermes Birkin bag 

Song of the Day

Crystal Gayle -- Wrong Road Again - YouTube:

The Most Over-Rated Films Of All Time, According To Science

The Most Over-Rated Films Of All Time, According To Science

Today's Vintage Ad

Hat tip to Art Scott.

I Miss the Old Days

Good Vibrations: On this day 16 May in 1966, The Beach Boys released the album Pet Sounds. The album is now regarded as the masterpiece of composer-producer Brian Wilson, and is often hailed as one of the best and most influential albums in pop music.

Bigfoot Udate

Found: Long-lost First Nation sasquatch mask

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Edward S. Aarons, Assignment Treason, Gold Medal, 1973

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

Houston Stripper Being Sued, Customer Wants His Money Back

Three Free Books!

The Education of a Pulp Writer: Three for Free!: These ebook titles are free for a few days ... The Girls of Bunker Pines, BEAT to a PULP: Superhero, and BEAT to a PULP: Round 2. If you don't have a copy yet, now is a good time!

A Brief History of the Chocolate Chip

A Brief History of the Chocolate Chip 

North America's Oldest Skeleton

North America's Oldest Skeleton Discovery: 13,000-Year-Old Body of 'Naia' Discovered in Mexico

Southern Discomfort: Tumultuous Literature set in the American South.

The Sound and the Fury by William FaulknerAbeBooks: Southern Discomfort: Tumultuous Literature set in the American South.: The American South offers famous food, memorable music and honest hospitality, but why do so many authors dwell on the dark side of this region? Books like Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora N. Hurston, Alex Haley’s Roots and The Color Purple by Alice Walker are acclaimed, but harrowing. Discrimination of all kinds, voodoo and other black arts, violence and murder, incest and rape – you will find them all prominently featured in Southern-themed literature.

Galaxy Science Fiction, November 1951: A Retro-Review

Galaxy Science Fiction, November 1951: A Retro-Review

Nancy Malone, R. I. P.

NYTimes.com: Nancy Malone, a child model in the 1940s who became a successful actress as an adult before moving to the other side of the camera as a television producer and director at a time when few women in Hollywood held those positions, died on May 8 in Duarte, Calif. She was 79.

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Vintage Treasures: Universe 13 edited by Terry Carr

Vintage Treasures: Universe 13 edited by Terry Carr

Vintage Treasures: Six Worlds Yonder / The Space Willies by Eric Frank Russell

Vintage Treasures: Six Worlds Yonder / The Space Willies by Eric Frank Russell

FFB: Juvenile Jungle

Okay, it's '50s week for the FFB folks.  I have one for you.

We talk about books now and then that we say are "very much of their time."  Nothing could be truer of Juvenile Jungle.  There's a ton of hep '50s teen slang in John McPartland's "Party for the Kids," and no doubt it helped to fuel the fear of those nasty juvenile delinquents in many an old white male reader's heart (the story appeared in Esquire).  I guess Americans always have to have someone or something to fear, and in the late '40s and a lot of the '50s it was J. D.s as they were often called.  Check out the movie trailer below for a filmic example. (Besides the J.D.s, we had the Dirty Reds, too, not to mention The Bomb, but that's another story.)

 James T. Farrell was a big name at one time, or at least a medium name.  In the '50s, reprints of his books were all over the place, mainly the ones in the Studs Lonigan trilogy.  "Scarecrow" is the oldest story in the book, from 1930, and it's as rough and raw as the stories in the trilogy, which I read when I was in high school.  It's not about the threatening J. D.s like those in McPartland's story, but it's scary in its own way.

Jonathan Craig's "The Bobby Soxer" isn't about a threatening J. D., either.  It's about an attempted rape of an underage girl by an older man, who's arrested and charged.  The story's very short, and it has a nice little snapper of an ending.

Hal  Ellson made a career out of writing about J. D.s, the threatening kind, and "Pistol" is a good example.  No good can come of it when a pistol falls into the wrong hands.  

The next time you want to time travel back to the time of J.D.s and zip guns, give this book a try.

Joy Ride

1958 JOY RIDE TRAILER BAD TEENS - YouTube:

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

34-year-old Texas woman caught posing as high schooler after victim’s Facebook sleuthing

Gator Update (Crimefighter Edition)

Fleeing Florida Car Thief Hit Alligator, Crashed

The Wild Adventures of Doc Savage: The War Makers -- Kenneth Robeson (Will Murray & Ryerson Johnson)

The War Makers is a sequel to an older Doc Savage novel, The Motion Menace, which was written by Ryerson Johnson using the Robeson name.  This novel is based on Johnson's outline for a follow-up book, but you don't have to have read The Motion Menace to enjoy this one.

A mysterious invisible barrier that can stop planes in fight and kill anyone who comes beneath it is devastating the country.  Doc Savage and his crew are on the case, and the action never lets up as the story zips from Detroit to Florida to Washington, D. C., to the North Pole.  Narrow escapes abound.  People are not who they seem to be.  Doc uses many gadgets and devices.  He even smokes a pipe! (For good reason, as we learn.)

As usual, Will Murray captures the style and storytelling technique of Lester Dent just about perfectly.  The War Makers is another rousing adventure in the grand Doc Savage tradition and a fine addition to the on-going saga.

First It Was the Bong Assault

Man arrested after musician gets mandolin case in face 

Bob Dylan sings Frank Sinatra:

Bob Dylan sings Frank Sinatra: Full Moon and Empty Arms, made popular by Old Blue Eyes (AUDIO).

Hint: Not the USA

Which Country Reads the Most?

Song of the Day

Lightnin' Hopkins - mojo hand - YouTube:

Dino Update

Scientists unearth unique, long-necked dinosaur in Argentina

Weird Washington Monument History

The Daily Beast: From indignation over a bare-chested statue of Washington to a gift from the pope tossed in the Potomac, here are 10 interesting facts about the newly reopened Washington Monument.

Today's Vintage Ad


First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

. . . and now:  Teen charged in bong attack 

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee

UPI.com: Woman arrested for disorderly intoxication following underwear throwing incident

Joyce Carol Oates on Wonder

Joyce Carol Oates on Wonder, Consciousness, and the Art of Beholding Beauty 

I Found a Penny the Other Day

Pals find $40K in used sofa and track down owner 

Hat tip to Art Scott.

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Edward Lewis Wallant, The Children at the Gate, Popular Library 1965

H.R. Giger’s Album Artwork

H.R. Giger’s Album Artwork

Or Maybe You Do

10 Things You May Not Know About 'Little Women' 

Hercule Poirot's real-life model?

Hercule Poirot's real-life model may have been detected in Torquay

Literary hero to zero

Literary hero to zero: The only true judge of an author's merits is posterity. But why do some literary reputations last while others founder?

Will the Persecution Never End?

Paris Hilton reveals side boob while clutching teddy bear in glamour portrait before jetting off to Cannes Film Festival   

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Mary Stewart, R. I. P.

RIP: Mary Stewart (1916 – 2014): SF Site is reporting that author Mary Stewart died on May 10. SHe was best known for her Arthurian fantasies, such as The Crystal Cave and The Last Enchantment among others. She also wrote children’s books and her novel The Moon-Spinners was made into a film by Disney.

Frisco Jenny

▶ 1933 FRISCO JENNY TRAILER RUTH CHATTERTON - YouTube:

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Only 99 Cents for a Limited Time

Amazon.com: Once A Warrior (Mustafa And Adem 2) eBook: Anthony Neil Smith: Kindle Store: It's been three years since Mustafa Bahdoon, one-time leader of the Southside Killaz, saved his fugitive son Adem from the clutches of pirates in Somalia. But when Mustafa is asked to rescue a young girl from the gang's sex trafficking empire, he returns from retirement to seize control once again. But his coup ignites a vicious gang war on the streets of Minneapolis. 

Meanwhile, still haunted by guilt over the girl he left behind in Somalia, Adem reprises the role of Mr Mohammed, legendary pirate negotiator. But the CIA is on his tail and he soon finds himself unwillingly enmeshed in a deadly campaign against organised crime. 

Half a world apart, survival for both father and son depends upon telling friend from enemy, truth from lie, and their own true selves from the roles they must play. 

Once A Warrior is the highly anticipated follow-up to the award-winning All The Young Warriors.

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

Burglar's buttocks wound helped crack case 

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

The Murder Farm -- Andrea Maria Schenkel (Trans. Anthea Bell)

The Murder Farm was originally published in Germany to great success.  It's a short book, more novella than novel, especially when you consider that some of its pages are taken up by intercessory prayers for the dead.  As regular readers of this blog know, I prefer short books, so for me the length is just right. 

The book is based on a real murder of an entire family that occurred at a rural Bavarian farm in 1922, but the time period has been moved to the early '50s.  The book is told through short chapters representing a number of points of view.  Residents of the remote community nearest the farm appear to be responding to interview questions about the crime, and in the process reveal as much about themselves and the community as they do about the family.  The reader comes to understand more about all this than any of the individuals, and the circumstances leading to the crime are bizarre and unsettling.  The original murders remain unsolved, as do the ones in the book, it seems, but the reader learns the killer's identity and motive.

The prose of The Murder Farm is spare and unadorned, and it serves the novel's purpose well.  I have no idea how accurate the translation is, but it certainly works well to convey the bleak themes of the novel.  If you're looking for something very different, this is one you'll want to try.

Comic Strip of the Day

Link

Want to Buy "Dracula's Castle"?

Now's your chance: "Dracula's Castle" Is Up For Sale And It's Actually Really Beautiful

Criminal Genius of the Day -- He Didn't Even Have a Gub

Wales Online: A hapless criminal wearing socks over his shoes tried robbing a bank with a breadknife – just minutes after giving the cashier his full name and address.

Song of the Day

Chubby Checker Lovely lovely - YouTube:

10 Highwaymen Who Gallantly Terrorized Britain

10 Highwaymen Who Gallantly Terrorized Britain

Such a Deal!

THE DEAD MAN Vols 1-6 are today's Kindle Daily Deal in SF&F...for just $1.99 each for the next 24 hours.  If you  haven't read the series, now's the time!

George R.R. Martin Still Uses A DOS Word Processor

George R.R. Martin Still Uses A DOS Word Processor

Today's Vintage Ad


Isn't This Exactly Why We Have 911?

Man calls Oregon 911 center to find out where to buy weed  

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Five Horror Films that Shocked the Unshockable

Five Horror Films that Shocked the Unshockable 

Kurt Vonnegut on Reading, Boredom, Belonging, and Hate

Kurt Vonnegut on Reading, Boredom, Belonging, and Hate

PaperBack



Steve January, Rusty Desmond, Avon, 1954

Brand New Buffalo Bills

Brand New Buffalo Bills: A Cody family auction unleashes numerous photographs “unknown” to Buffalo Bill Cody historians.

I Want to Believe!

10 Sensational Sea Serpent Sightings 

12 Writers On The Women Authors Who Inspired Them

12 Writers On The Women Authors Who Inspired Them

Say It Ain't So, Apple Pie!

10 Products That Seem All-American But Are Not! 

Or You Might

10 Things You Might Not Know About Allosaurus 

No Highway in the Sky

1951 NO HIGHWAY IN THE SKY TRAILER JAMES STEWART - YouTube:

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Herb Lotman, R. I. P.

Father of the Chicken McNugget dies: Food industry inventor and entrepreneur Herb Lotman, who developed the mass-production system for making McDonald's frozen hamburgers, has died. He was 80. He "developed the first total distribution concept for McDonald's in the late-1960s with the use of cryogenics and helped conceive the Chicken McNugget in the 1980s."

You Know You Want It

Book Spine Lightswitch CoverBook Spine Lightswitch Cover at Bas Bleu | UH3142: Shine a literary light on your home library or office with this colorful lightswitch cover decorated with the spines of classic novels by Robert Louis Stevenson, Charles Dickens, and Sherwood Anderson. Made of wood, plastic, and paper, and measuring 2 3/4"x4 1/2" this whimsical cover fits standard toggle lightswitches. Installation hardware included.

Link via Boing Boing.

Isn't This Exactly Why We Have 911?

Woman Jailed For Calling 911 Because Subway Made Her Pizza Wrong

Houston Leads the (Wrong) Way.

How Courteous Are The Drivers In Your City?   

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee

Sword, hack saw and wind chimes used in rampage

PimPage: An Occasional Feature in Which I Call Attention to Books of Possible Interest

Tales of A Jailhouse Librarian: Challenging the Juvenile Justice System One Book At A Time: Marybeth Zeman: 9780615953878: Amazon.com: Books:  In a large suburban county jail, a rolling library book cart connects boys with their new counselor, a veteran schoolteacher. Faced with their unquenchable thirst for reading to help ease the unremitting boredom of everyday life, "Mrs. Z", now, "the book-lady," gives them the opportunity to share their hopes, their disappointments, their disillusionment and most of all, their anger at a system that is crushing their spirit and dreams for the future. What Frederick Douglass advised us about education rings true today--"It's easier to build strong children than repair broken men." Tales of a Jailhouse Librarian skillfully captures the sights, sensations and rhythms of jail life. Zeman mixes journalism, memoir and character sketches with facts about the juvenile justice system, describes the various agencies, provides relevant statistics, and specific court cases that become so palatable they are easily digested.

The reason every book about Africa has the same cover

The reason every book about Africa has the same cover—and it’s not pretty

Literature’s Greatest Houses, Castles, and Mansions

Literature’s Greatest Houses, Castles, and Mansions 

Serial Defecator Update

HPD: Woodland Heights serial defecator has been caught 

Stone Circle Update

Stone circles found on Virginia property: The complex along Spout Run has 15 above-ground stone features. Though still under study, it could be one of the oldest man-made structures in North America still in existence and twice as old as England’s Stonehenge.

Song of the Day

Electric light orchestra - Don't bring me down video - YouTube:

Star Wars Storyboards From the Original Trilogy

Star Wars Storyboards From the Original Trilogy 

Hap and Leonard Update

SundanceTV Developing ‘Hap and Leonard’ Crime Fighting Book Series

Today's Vintage Ad


The 18 Most Hipster Books Of All Time

The 18 Most Hipster Books Of All Time

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Vin Packer (Marijane Meaker), Look Back to Love, Gold Medal, 1953

Dead But Not Forgotten

Don't Be Cruel by Bill Crider, Narrated by Johanna Parker - a story from Dead But Not Forgotten
It's  release day for Dead But Not Forgotten, a audio collection of stories based on characters in Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse series.  My story features the character known as Bubba, and you can hear a sample of it at the link below.  Check it out.  If you're not into listening, the print edition is forthcoming. 

Don't Be Cruel by Bill Crider, Narrated by Johanna Parker - a story from Dead But Not Forgotten by Audible on SoundCloud - Hear the world’s sounds: Charlaine Harris' smash-hit Sookie Stackhouse series may have reached its conclusion, but the world of Bon Temps, Louisiana, lives on in this all-new collection of 15 stories. Written by a killer lineup of authors, including New York Times best-sellers Rachel Caine, MaryJanice Davidson, Jonathan Maberry and Seanan McGuire, and with introductions read by Charlaine herself, Dead but Not Forgotten puts your favorite characters center stage.

I Miss the Old Days

Chicago Auto Show: 1954: Chicago Auto Show

Investigating Insects: Rare Entomology Books

Insectorvm sive Minimorum Animalium Theatrvm
AbeBooks: Investigating Insects: Rare Entomology Books: There are more 1.3 million documented species of insect, meaning that bug life, to describe them crudely, accounts for well over half of all known animal life on the planet. So it’s no surprise that the study of insects, entomology, has been an expansive subject in literature since the late Renaissance era.

H.R. Giger, R. I. P.

ABC News: Swiss artist H.R. Giger, who designed the creature in Ridley Scott's sci-fi horror classic "Alien," has died at age 74 from injuries suffered in a fall, his museum said Tuesday.

Gator Update (Australia Edition)

Bacon-Wrapped Whole Alligator with a Chicken Stuffed in Its Mouth

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee

Mail Online: Man, 29, 'chased his girlfriend with a sword and threatened to kill her as horrified neighbors looked on'  

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Snake Eyes Inexplicably Not Included

The 5 Most Underrated Brian De Palma Thrillers

Overlooked Movies: Up the Down Staircase

When I read the other day that Bel Kaufman had turned 102, I immediately thought of how much I loved her book Up the Down Staircase and then the movie that followed.  They hit home with me because in the year the novel appeared (the movie came a couple of years later), I was in my second year of teaching.  The fact that I wasn't teaching in a school anything at all like the one in the book and movie didn't matter.  I identified strongly with a number of things that Kaufman wrote about and that the movie portrayed.  I think any beginning teacher would feel the same way.

Reading the book, I would never have guessed a movie could be made of it.  The book is told through a sort of collage or letters, p.a. announcements, signs, memos, notes passed in class, and so on.  But the movie got made, and it's really good.  What makes it good is the wonderful performances, particularly Sandy Dennis's as Sylvia Barrett, a beginning teacher in an inner-city school who's trying to cope with student don't seem to want an education and administrators who don't seem to have a clue.  Why would anybody take that job?  And who would keep it after seeing what it was like.  Sylvia Barrett plans to get out, but then she discovers that maybe she does have a purpose and a reason for being there.   

The trailer just below is a cheat.  It doesn't give you any real idea what the movie is like, but it's worth watching to see what things were like 50 years ago.  

Up The Down Staircase

Up The Down Staircase (1967) Trailer - YouTube: